Taurus Reliability - Actual Numbers

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So some nobody says 13% frailer rate out of the box now it's internet FACT
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What... 'Some nobody' were various reviewers at 'Gun Tests' magazine over a 16 year period. The number doesn't represent the number of people that said they liked it or didn't, it represents the number of lockups/breakages this particular team of testers experienced. It's about as close to 'fact' as you can get without expending serious cash and resources to do proper reliability tests.

If by 'some nobody' you're talking about the guy that looked through all the magazines to count, he states that he does in fact own several Tauruses.

If you're talking about me, yeah.. I didn't make the number up, I just linked to what I found.

Nobody said it was FACT. In FACT, what I said was:

...at least it's more concrete than "OMG TAURUS IS POOP BY WIFE'S FIRING PIN BROKE" or "I'VE HAD A TAURUS FOR 30 YEARS AND IT'S FINE"!
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I currently own 2 Taurus guns (a PT140 Millennium Pro and an 85CH) and I've owned a few others (an 82, a 605, and while not a Taurus, Taurus owns Rossi and I had a Rossi 461). I put a lot of rounds through all except the 605 and 461 (I don't like .357mag out of a J-frame sized revolver). All have been good guns. I also used to own a Taurus forum and from what I've seen, when people do have problems Taurus is good about fixing them (though sometimes slow) and after the fix it usually works.

In contrast, I've had a few Rugers (generally acknowledged to be good guns). My first, a KP89 was reliable but couldn't hit the broadside of a barn (I was much more accurate with range rentals with which I was unfamiliar than my P89, and friends couldn't shoot that gun accurately either). My second was a KP345 which was horribly unreliable. My third, a Ruger MkII was reliable and accurate, but a pain to put back together after cleaning. My current Ruger is a LCP, I haven't shot it enough yet to have an opinion. I'm not saying that Rugers are crap, but I am saying that internet reputation isn't everything (if it was, all my Rugers would have been terrific, and assuming my LCP is good, I'm batting 25% on satisfaction with Ruger, and if the LCP turns out to be a dud, I'm 0 for 4).

I am currently in the market for a few different categories of guns over the next few months (a small pocket or nearly pocket 9mm, a compact pistol, a 6" .357mag, another 1911, and a .357mag lever rifle) Out of those categories, I am considering a Taurus for each category (counting the Rossi 92 as a Taurus for the lever rifle), and for some a Taurus is at or near the top of the list (the .357mag and the full-sized 1911). I've had personal experience with them, and I've heard from plenty of other owners (happy and unhappy) and I'm not afraid to consider them. If I get a bad one, they'll make it right, and once you have a good Taurus, in my experience it is a good gun (i.e. if you have a problem, you'll probably have it early, and once fixed, it is usually fixed for good).
 
I find some of taurus designs to be good. The 24/7 series fits me very well, and i have always been intriqued by the firiing system used on it. If it wernt for the qc issues i would own a few tauri right now..
 
So some nobody says 13% frailer rate out of the box now it's internet FACT.
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Actually, I'd consider Gun Tests to be one of the few truly reliable sources.

At one time, I was keeping a tally at the shop of which manufacturers we were getting the most problems from. My sample size was limited to guns we had to return to the factory for service over a two-year period.

Taurus was at the top of the list by a wide margin. We were averaging three to four guns a month, most of which had problems straight out of the box. We're talking about guns that were sent from the factory with bad timing or serious lockup issues.

We were selling maybe 20-25 a month, which puts us at a similar percentage.

In one case, a Judge had a grip frame so badly canted that it was pulling the sideplate loose. The safety locks had a habit of spontaneously locking on the revolvers, and they'd frequently strip when the owners tried to engage them with the key. I don't think I ever fired one of their revolvers that didn't have at least one chamber grossly over- or underbored.

In that time, we returned one Smith & Wesson, which had the cylinder stop spring give out at around 500 rounds, one Ruger for cosmetic issues, and one Ruger that had a broken front sight.

We stopped carrying the brand altogether in late 2010. Two years earlier, we'd stopped carrying all their automatics (with the exception of the PT-92, which seem somewhat solid) for even worse quality-control issues.

That's not to say that Taurus can't make a reliable firearm. It's just that their oopsies are far more prevalent than other makers'.
 
Ok off topic, Is the 24/7oss still in production? I noticed that the new g2 eliminated the sa/da trigger in favor of a standard da/sa or sa only or da only. I wonder why they eliminated the sa/day??

I may take the plunge on a oss, becuase its what they were going to submit for testing to the us army, but didnt get the chance. So i figure if im going to get another tuari, might as well be that one..
 
No one has ever said that ALL Taurus guns have problems. Most are fine and their owners have no problems. But Taurus fans cite those reports and then say they prove that Taurus has no problems and that reports of problems are lies. Nope. Unfortunately, no one (I doubt even Taurus) is really keeping track of the problems with those guns. There is no government agency that keeps records of problems or recalls in the firearms industry (and most of us wouldn't want to give our beloved government that kind of power), so sites like this are about the only way users with a problem can know if their trouble is an isolated fluke or something inherent in the design or material of the gun.

Jim
 
I owned one Taurus, a new in box M85. It froze up solid between 200 to 250 rounds. After dealing with Taurus Customer Service, after getting the gun back I sold because I didn't trust it. That was my first and last Taurus.

In my book, and it's a small sample size, they have 100% fail rate. I own 3 Rugers, 3 S&W, 1 Walther, 1 Glock and 1 Springfield. I've never had a problem with any of those guns by comparison.

To me, it just makes sense to spend a little more money up front because you'll get a much better gun in the long run. If you buy a Taurus and have problems with it, it will likely cost much more than buying a better made gun would have in the first place.
 
It reminds me of Apple. If you take a survey asking if people love their iPhone/iPod, you'll get nothing but five star glowing reviews, and people saying "DON'T BUY CHEAP IMITATIONS, GET WHAT YOU KNOW YOU WANT!" and such. But in reality, the things are no better at doing what they do than the competition. Personally, every iPod I've ever owned had issues, and all broke after a couple years (not due to abuse, I babied the things), and absolutely everyone I know that ever owned one had the same experience. Yet most people (not me) love them anyway and the hype produces glowing reviews no matter what, and people bash the competition basically because 'they aren't Apple.' Some see a product's popularity (and how much it costs) as an indication of how 'good' it is. I don't. I see some of that same behavior in the pro-S&W-anti-Taurus posters too.
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I will echo what you posted here.

Having owned both Apple products and Taurus semiauto's, i'll put in my 2cents worth. I try to be unbiased with products that I've owned. So with that i've owned Smith and Wessons, Springfields, Keltecs, Taurus, etc.

The 2 Taurus pistols i've owned were more newer models (PT709 and 740). Both were good quality IMO and performed flawlessly without problems during the time I carried them. Better quality than Keltecs, and about close to Ruger or S&W for much less $$.

The Apple products I owned - an Iphone 3G and an Ipod 30Gig video - both were excellent products. But both also froze up on me a few times.

Granted we're comparing apples to oranges here, but that is my experience.
 
I have had my 3rd gen. PT-145 for a few years now. I have 1000's of rounds downrange without one single issue. I guess Im in the 86. whatever percent who are satisfied with Taurus. Im curious as to what the top 5 most returned is. Taurus cant be all 5. Anyway it doesnt matter what the internet guru's think or say, my Taurus has been flawless. Who cares what joe schmoe from podunk thinks of a gun he has never owned.
 
I’ve owned 2 without a problem, guess that makes it 100% reliability: rolleyes:
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Add my PT99 that had a huge problem and that brings reliability down to 66%. Yes, I actually owned it, fired it (factory Fiocchi 9mm), experienced a catastrophic failure with it, waited 6 months while a smith tried to get decent parts to fix it, and then dumped it.

One more thing, before someone bring up the "Lifetime Guaranty", I've got a few words to say about that.

1. Lifetime guaranties won't help you when you need your gun for self defense.

2. Lifetime guaranties should be renamed "Repair Avoidance Policies" because they are drafted by lawyers who want to give their company (like Taurus) complete discretion on whether or not they will repair a gun that experiences a problem. If the company doesn't like you, your problem, or your gun, they will just tell you to go pound sand.

3. Lifetime guaranties don't ensure that your replacement parts will be as good as the ones that came with the gun, or that they will even fit - my replacement part(s) was pure crap.

4. Some of y'all like Ruger. Ruger claims to guaranty their guns for life. That is until they simply decide to stop supporting the guns they made (ref. AC556) then you are SOL.

5. If Taurus went out of business tomorrow, which gun would you buy today: PT-92 or a Star Firestar 9mm? I have a Star Megastar - Star hasn't been around for over 20 years. My Megastar, and all other Firestars and Megastars that I've heard of don't need company support or lifetime guaranties, because they were made like tanks to begin with.

If you want to purchase a "Lifetime Guaranty", then go to Legal Zoom (form legal documents) and see if they have one that you like - probably will cost you less than $20. If you want to buy a gun that won't fail, then ignore the ten-cent guaranty that it comes with and BUY A GOOD QUALITY GUN!
 
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13.28% failure out of the box, brand new? What's it gonna be after 200 rounds? 20% after 400 rounds 30%. I know they have a lifetime warranty, but what good is a gun sitting at the UPS depot when you need it? I have guns over 20 years old that have never malfunctioned.
 
Taurus

I've owned several Taurus 1911's and they were good guns and very accurate. One came with a firing pin hole that was drilled too large and bulged primers into the hole a little. Taurus replaced the pistol free, but I admit it was slow ie 5-6 weeks I believe. All were reliable, AND VERY ACCURATE, out shot my Colt Gold Cup by quite a bit.

I've had several Taurus revolvers and Rossi revolvers by Taurus. All have been S&W copies from appearance. All functioned well, all were accurate. I shoot revolvers much less than pistols so can't speak to longevity. I have a Rossi now
I believe it's a Model 971 and looks similar to a Model 19 S&W. I really like the pistol in every respect, though I've shot it little. And then almost entirely with .38 Specials, not .357 Magnums. I keep it loaded with .357's in a pistol case just as a back up along side a FN Tactical .45 w/ Trijicon red dot.
 
I have owned 2 M85 revolvers. One was fine when I sold it. The other misfired several times per box. I sent it back at least three times, sent it to a revolver specialist, and after over a year I finally got a new one from Taurus. I promptly sold it without ever taking it out of the box.

So the failure rate of guns is 50% for me. Need I say any more why I would not own one?

The additional cost of a S&W (I have four) is well worth it to me.
Jerry
 
"Ruger claims to guaranty their guns for life."

Well, no, they don't. In fact they make no guarantee whatsoever. But they say that they "Ruger wishes to assure its customers of its continued interest in providing service to owners of Ruger firearms."

What does that mean? Not much at all. BUT, Ruger, without fanfare, does a great job of customer service that in effect is the same as a lifetime warranty.

JIm
 
My experience with Taurus reliability has been 100%. Of course I only own one, a Judge Public Defender Poly. I will have a second as soon as BPS gets in more PT-22 Polys which I have a rain check from their last add for. Also my son't Millennium Pro has been 100% reliable as well.
 
Hhmmm....I hear lots of bad things about Taurus & Rossi products, especially as relates to their manufacturing quality control. However, I have access to 7 Taurus & Rossi products in pistols & revolvers. I've not had any more problems with any of these firearms than I've had with the Colts, Smith & Wessons, H&K's, FNH's, Glocks,Springfields et. al that I also have access to shooting. I guess I'm just lucky.--Patrice
 
Like someone said earlier regarding the publication "Gun Tests," I too respect it and have read it now for almost thirty years (gosh I am getting older :eek:). That being said, I do not agree with all of their findings (last month's shotgun review/rating, for example, I found flawed big-time). But the fact that they are not bought and paid for via advertisers and actually advise against purchasing products is simply unheard of in the publication industry and seemingly provides additional 'credibility' to their research (Big fan of Guns & Ammo but if I see them pander to Kimber or Ruger one more time I will
vomit-into-the-toilet.gif
. Both Kimber and Ruger make fabulous guns but they have obviously bought and paid for Guns&Ammo as there is a corrosponding endorsement every other page (print) or minute (TV).

Sorry for the rant/tangent but I have got to say I have had no problems with any of my Tauri (five total now). I will say, however, all of my guns are known for being among their more 'established' models like the 92, 24/7 G2 etc. and not the more 'cutting-edge' designs I have seen them market of late.

-Cheers
 
The only Taurus I have ever owned I bought new a couple of months ago, it is TCP 738 .380 blued. It seems to be a very decent little pocket rocket, I've only put a couple of boxes of hardball downrange with it so far, but it has gone bang every time.
 
I've had the pistol for close to 30 years. A PT99 Taurus, goes bang every time and never a malfunction. Maybe I got lucky, regardless it was a lot of money back than and I trust it with my life.

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